Musical instrument



Oct. 4, 1949. J. E. BRADLEY i 2,483,617

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Filed May 14, 1947 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 j KEY DFA CoNsoNANT PHASE DlssoNANT PHASE A c E 'G l D D F at? 0. 6* Ism L Q 'im -9- /oo la@ zo s'gagoo i o MIDDLE E 66 B D F 35 a0 3531-32 33 IN V EN TOR.

@am 5, E949. J. E. BRADLEY MuscAL INSTRUMENT 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 14, 1,947

5 Shees-Sheet E J. E.. BRADLEY MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Oct. 4, 1949.

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INI/'ENTORo Oct. 4, 1949. J. E. BRADLEY MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Filed May 14, 1947 5 Sheets-Shea?I 4 MW M Oct. 4, 1949. J. E. BRADLEY MUSICAL INSTRUMENT 5 sheessheet 5 Filed May 14, 1947 @w E um www Patented Oct. 4, v1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 19 Claims.

This invention relates to a musical instrument, and more particularly to a stringed musical instrument of the piano type having increased musical Versatility.

While this invention may be embodied in many types of musical instruments, it Will be herein described as embodied in a stringed musical instrument of the piano or pianoettetype. I declare the following to be a full, clear and exact description of this invention, such as will enable those skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

It is well known in the field of music that the greatest clarity of tone is obtained only when the instrument possesses true pitch, that is, when the instrument is so tuned that'each succeeding note of the scale differs from the preceding note by equal proportionate fractions of divisions of an octave. The strings of the ordinary piano, however, are not tuned in true pitch, but rather in a tempered pitch. This tempered pitch is employed so that the number of keys on a piano may be held to a workable minimum and yet permit the instrument to be played in various keys. There are numerous methods oi tuning to achieve this tempered scale, all of which have the same basic idea just expressed.

My invention embraces a stringed musical instrument in which the strings are tuned in true pitch and yet permits the instrument to be played in any chosen key while maintaining the strings in true pitch with relation to each other.

For example, the table below shows a Sample octave in the key of A, and lists the number of vibrations per second of each string in the octave when tuned in one form of tempered pitch and as tuned in true pitch in my instrument.

Tempered scale B 123.471 C# 138.591 D 146.832 E 164.814 F# 184.997 G# 207.652 a 220.000

True pitch B 123.750 C 137.500 D 151.250 E 165.000 F 178.750 G 192.500 H 206.250 a 220.000

It will be noted from the above table that in the true pitch scale shown, an octave from A to a is divided into eight notes, each differing from the preceding or succeeding note by one-eighth of the difference between A and a.

The manner in which changes of key are permitted and the versatility of my instrument can best be seen from the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a front view of a piano type instrument showing a portion of the keyboard and the pedal bank;

Fig. 2 is a top elevation of the instrument of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the framework and strings of the instrument together with many of the working parts;

Figs. 4, 5 and 7 are vertical sections along lines 4--4, 5 5 and 7 1 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail View of the stop means for the sub tone pedals;

Fig. 8 is a vertical section along lines 8--8 of Fig. 7 and,

Fig. 9 is a View of sample clefs designed for use with the instrument.

Referring now to the drawings, 20 indicates a musical instrument of the piano type supported on legs 2l' having a keyboard 22 and three banks of pedals 23, 24 and 25. As best seen in Fig. 2, the keyboard 22 comprises a plurality of keys, there being eight keys to the octave. I prefer to construct the keys of white and black material as in the usual piano to aid in distinguishing them from each other, but it will be noted that the keyboard 22 is not in the usual form found on pianos. To further explain this keyboard, a sample octave will he selected which includes the white keys 26, 2l, 28 and 29 and the black keys 3), 3l, 32 and 33. The white key 34 just above the white key 29 is adapted to strike the strings of the instrument which are tuned one octave above those struck by the key 26. The black keys are in the usual form, that is, raised above the front portion of the white keys, but the white keys have a rear portion 35 (that is, a portion closest to the backboard of the instrument), which is raised so as to be flush at the rear with the black keys. In this manner, the rear portion of all the keys are flush with each other thereby permitting the instrument to be played more rapidly and with greater ease than in the conventional keyboard. As each white key is preceded and followed by a black key, and as all the white and black keys are symmetrically arranged and are identical in appearance, it is necessary that identifying means such as the ridge 36 be supplied upon keys an octave apart in order that they may be identiiied.

For ease of explanation, I have lettered the keys in one octave from A to H. The strings struck by each key are tuned in absolute pitch, and represent the octave A to I-I of the harmonic major Scale. The white keys A, C, E and G represent the '2th, lflth, 12th and 14th harmonics of the tone and are the consonant phase of the key in any position. The black keys B, D, F and H represent the 9th, 11th, 13th, and 15th harmonics of the generating tone and are the dissonant phase of the key in any position.

epression of the keys is adapted to cause a hammer to strike the strings 40 of the instrument in the usual manner. The strings are secured to the framework 42-42 of the instrument in the usual manner, such as by pegs 43. One end of the strings (the lower end as seen in Fig. 3), is determined by contact with the frets 44 while the other end of the strings shown in the lower portion of that figure is determined by contact with a tongue 45 mounted on the bridge 13. The bridge includes a sound box 46 and the entire assembly is movable about a pivot 41 thereby to vary the lengths of the strings. The bridge assembly 13 is provided with a roller 48 adjacent the end opposite the pivot, which roller is adapted to roll in a guideway 49 to facilitate movement of the bridge. A rubber roller H is attached to the bridge assembly to prevent vibration of that part of the strings on the other side of the tongue 45. As can be seen in Fig. 3, the fret means 44, which determine the lower end of the strings, are on a line which, if projected, would intersect the pivot point 41. Being so mounted, movement of the bridge about its pivot varies the length of all strings proportionately and raises or lowers the pitch of all the strings to change the key without disturbing the tonal relationship of the strings.

In the embodiment shown, I have provided for movement of the bridge to twelve predetermined positions corresponding to twelve different keys in equal temperament in which the instrument may be played. Movement of the bridge to such positions may be achieved manually through the levers U mounted upon the front of the instrument or by the first bank of pedals 23. The various keys in which the instrument may be played by such movement of the bridge are arranged in perfect fths, upward, for example A, E, B, Fir, Ct, G# or Ab, Eb, Bb, F, C, G and D. Actuation of the proper lever 5D or depression of the proper pedal in the rst bank 23 is adapted to move the bridge to vary the length of the strings so that the instrument then may be played in the key desired. By this arrangement, the same key, for example the ridged key on the keyboard, becomes the dominant note of the scale for whatever major key in which the instrument is played. It is, therefore, unnecessary that various iingerings be learned to play the instrument in various major keys, the same fingering being employed for all major keys.

As best seen in Fig. 4, depression of one of the pedals 5I in the bank of pedals 23 rocks a bell crank arrangement, which is pivoted at 52, to raise the arm 53, the arm being connected to a rod 54 extending up into the interior of the instrument. The upper end of the rod is provided with a cam arrangement 55 which, upon being raised, strikes a cradle 56 to cause rotation of a rod 51 in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction and in an amount determined by an angle at which the cam 55 is set. A gear 58 is attached to the rod 51 as is a spur gear 59. A chain 69 extends from the gear 59 to a second spur gear El mounted on a rotatable shaft Gla. A beveled gear 62 is also mounted on the shaft 6|a which engages another beveled gear 62a mounted upon a vertical shaft 63. Rotation of the shaft 63 is adapted to cause rotation of a gear segment S4 mounted thereon whose teeth mesh with the teeth of a second gear segment 65 connected to the bridge assembly.

As previously stated, movement of the bridge may also be obtained manually by means of the levers 5%. Referring to Fig. 4, one of such levers, 66, is shown, which lever is connected to a bell crank arrangement 61. The inner end of the bell crank is provided with an annular device 68 surrounding the rod 54 and adapted to engage a washer G9 afxed to the rod to lift the cam 55 upward against the cradle 56. A spring 10 is interposed between the lower portion A of the frame and a washer 1| to return the rod 54 and hence the pedal 5l, lever G6 and cam 55 to the position shown in Fig. 4 after such cam has made contact with the cradle 56, that is, upon release of the lever or pedal.

Similar cam arrangements are provided for each of the other eleven pedals and levers shown to permit movement of the bridge to set up any desired key.

Means are provided for subbing the tone of any of the strings regardless of the position of the bridge means. In the embodiment shown, the pedals in bank 25 are sub tone pedals arranged, by a series of rods and levers, to move selected frets 44 in a direction lengthening the string and thereby subbing its tone.

As best seen in Figs. 4, 5 and 7, each of the frets 44 is mounted in an individual guideway 15 in which it may be moved to the right (as seen in that figure) to lengthen the string 40. Spring means 16 are adapted to return the fret to its normal position. Movement of the fret to achieve a sub tone is accomplished by means of one of a plurality of right angular rods 11 having one end attached to the fret and having the other end pivotally connected to one of eight movable arms 18. As can be seen from the gures, each arm is individually movable about the pivot 41, and each arm is connected to the frets which are associated with strings an octave apart. For example, one of the arms 18a may be assumed to be associated with the A strings and is connected by means of rods 11a and 11b to all frets determining strings tuned to A, although octaves apart. The other arms are likewise connected to all the Bs, all the Cs, etc. It can be seen then that movement of the arm 18 by means of the right angular rod 11 moves all the frets associated with strings differing by an octave in a direction to lengthen the strings and, therefore, sub the tones.

Movement of each of the arms 18 about its pivot 41 is achieved by a plurality of rods 88 connected to each of said arms and connected to a bell crank 8l adjacent the keyboard end of the instrument. A bell crank 8| is provided for each of the rods 88 and is connected thereto by means of a link 82 and connected by means of a Second link 83 to a vertical rod 84. Depression of one of the pedals 85 in the bank 25 is adapted to cause upward movement of the rod 84 and hence outward movement of the particular rod 88 associated with that pedal. Stop means 86 are connected to each of the rods 80, which stop means are adapted to strike against a stop 81 thereby to limit the movement of the rods and hence the subbing movement of the frets 44.

The amount of movement of the frets 44 to accurately sub any particular note or tone varies with .the particular issy in which the instrument is being played. In other words, the amount of movement nennitted to the .rods Alill upon depression of any pedal in :the bank 25 must vary with the position of the bridge 13. Means are therefore provided to change the position of the stop 8l with changes in positions .of the bridge.

Mounted upon the shaft '63 is a gear segment 90, adapted ,to be vrotated with rotation of the shaft 63, and meshing with a gear 9i, which gear in turn meshes with a yrack 92,. A shaft 93 has one end .connected to the rack 92 and is attached at the other end to the stop 81. It can be seen then, that rotation of the shaft 63 is adapted not only to move he bridge means to various predetermined positions, but simultaneously shifts the stop .si thereby to vary the permissible movement of rods 80. l'Ihe amount of movement permitted the rods 80 is so determined as to properly and accurately sub the tone of each ,string in any position of the bridge means.

The position of the sub tone pedals in the bank 25 may be varied at will, however, I prefer to arrange the pedals so that the pedal subbing those tones which are most commonly subbed are more conveniently placed. In such an arrange.- ment, the first pedal would sub all the Hs, the second the Cs, and the following pedals the Gs, Ds, Es, Fs, Bs and As in that order.

In the central bank of pedals 24, three pedals are shown. the left hand pedal 96 being the soft pedal commonly found .on pianos, while the right han-d pedal 91 is the loud pedal. The central pedal 01% is adapted to sub :all the tones of the instrument, this being achieved through a parallelogram arrangement 1.0.0 connected to the pedal .98 and connected to a bar arrangement itl which encloses all of the rods 84. Depression of the pedal 98 causes the bar i0! to move upwardly against washers l02 aflixed to each rod di and. thereby to move all the rods 84 upwardly. All the frets 44 are shifted in a direction lengthening all strings and subbing all the vtones simultaneously by depressing pedal v98.

The various positions of the bridge as set by either the pedals or the levers may be visually indicated upon the face of the instrument by means of a dial and a pointer arrangement litt. The pointer is connected vto a shaft |01 and is provided with a lever 1:09 in order that the bridge may be moved manually a slight amount either Way for accuracy of adjustment or to provide for quarter tone intervals. Attached on the inner end of the shaft is a beveled gear |08 meshing with the beveled gear 58, and therefore rotation of the shaft |01 is adapted to cause movement of the bridge 13.

This instrument, having an additional tone I-I added to the scale in common use, requires a provision for representing this tone. This is done by adopting new clefs for the instrument, that is, clefs that distinguish this particular instruments notation from that of the ordinary piano. Piano music, however, may be conveniently arranged for and played on my new instrument. Fig. 10 shows the A and E clefs adapted for this instrument. The notes are shown on the clefs and the number of vibrations of each tone is shown in philharmonic pitch, the consonant tones being on the lines and the dissonant tones on the spaces. A dot may immediately precede any note to indicate that that note is to be subbed.

While I have shown and described my invention in its preferred embodiment, that is, described in a piano of the grand type in which the strings .are horizontal, it is to be `understood that itis capable of many modifications. For example, the invention could be embodied in a piano of the upright type. Changes, therefore, in the construction and .arrangement may be made without departing from the spirit and scope ci the invention :as disclosed in the appendedclaims.

l claim:

1,1m a stringed musical instrument, a plurality of strings parallelly arranged, a bridge movable about a pivot, said bridge determining one end of said strings, fret means determining the other ends of said strings, said fret means on a line passing through said pivot and means for moving the bridge about said pivot to change the pitch of said strings.

2. The instrument of claim 1 including pedal and manual means for moving said bridge,

3. The instrument of claim l including a sound box attached to said bridge.

4. In a stringed musical instrument, a plurality of strings parallelly arranged and tuned in true pitch with respect to each other; a bridge movable about a pivot, said bridge having a first portion determining one end of said strings and having a second portion including a sound box attached to said rst portion; fret means determining the other ends of said strings, said fret means lying on a line passing through said pivot, and means for moving said bridge a predetermined amount about said pivot to vary the length oi said strings while maintaining each of said strings in true pitch with respect to the rest of said strings.

5. The musical instrument of claim 4 in which said frets are movable and including pedal means for moving said, frets a predetermined distance to sub the tones of each of said strings.

d, In a stringed musical instrument, a plurality of strings parallelly arranged, a bridge movable about a pivot, said bridge determining one end of said strings, fret means determining the other end of .said strings, said frets lying on a line passing through said pivot, said fret means being individually movable to vary the length of sai-d strings whereby to sub the tones thereof, means for moving said frets, said means being mounted for vmovement about said pivot, and mea-ns for moving said bridge to uniformly change the pitch of all of said strings.

7. The stringed instrument of claim 6 including stop means for limiting the motion of said fret means, said stop means being operatively associated with said bridge whereby movement of said bridge is adapted to move said stop means to correlate the distance of movement of said frets with the pitch of the strings as determined by the position of said bridge.

8. In a stringed musical instrument, a plurality of strings parallelly arranged, said strings being tuned in true pitch with respect to each other and eight of said strings defining an octave, a bridge movable about a pivot, said bridge determining one end of said strings, fret means determining the other end of said strings, said fret means lying on a line passing through said pivot, means for moving said bridge to change the pitch of said strings, and a plurality of keys arranged in a keyboard, each of said keys being adapted to sound one of the strings when the key is actuated.

9. The musical instrument of claim 8 in which eight of said keys define an octave, and each octave includes 4 white keys and 4 intermediate 7 black keys shorter than the white keys, said black keys having a portion raised above the front portion of the white keys and the white keys having a rear portion flush with and equal in width to the rear portion of the black keys.

10. In a stringed musical instrument, a keyboard including a plurality of keys, each of said keys being adapted to sound at least one of said strings upon being depressed, said instrument having eight strings to an octave, and said keyboard having eight keys to an octave including 4 white keys and 4 black keys between and shorter than the white keys, the rear portion of all of said keys lying in substantially the same plane.

11. The keyboard of claim 10 including identifying means on at least one key of each octave.

12. In a stringed musical instrument, a plurality of strings parallelly arranged, a bridge movable about a pivot, said bridge determining one end of said strings, a plurality of frets determining the other end of said strings each of said frets lying on a line passing through said pivot, each of said frets determining one end of at least one of said strings and every ninth fret determining strings adapted to vibrate an octave apart, means for simultaneously moving all frets determining strings tuned an octave apart, and means for moving the bridge about said pivot to change the pitch of said strings.

13. The stringed instrument of claim 12 including stop means for determining the distance said frets are moved whereby to sub the tones of said notes, said stop means being operatively associated with said bridge whereby changes of position of said bridge is adapted to cause changes of position of said stop means.

14. The stringed instrument of claim 12 including means for simultaneously moving all frets to sub the tones of all the strings.

15. In a stringed musical instrument, a plurality of strings parallelly arranged and tuned in true pitch with respect to each other, a bridge movable about a pivot, said bridge determining one end of said strings, a plurality of frets determining the other end of said strings, each of said frets lying on a line passing through said pivot and each of said frets determining one end of at least one of said strings, and every ninth fret determining strings adapted to vibrate an octave apart, means for simultaneously moving all frets determining strings tuned an octave apart, and means for simultaneously moving all frets to sub the tones of said strings, said moving means being movable about said pivot and means for moving the bridge about said pivot to change the pitch of all of said strings.

16. The stringed instrument of claim 15 including stop means for determining the distance said frets are moved whereby to sub the tones of said notes, said stop means being operatively associated with said bridge whereby changes of position vof said bridge is adapted to cause changes of position of said stop means.

17. In a stringed musical instrument, a plurality of strings of unequal length and tuned in true pitch with respect to each other, movable means determining one end of said strings and being movable to vary the length of all strings in equal proportions and thereby t0 maintain the tone of said strings in true pitch with respect to each other, and means determining the other end of said strings.

18. The musical instrument of claim 17 in which said last named means includes a plurality of frets, said frets being selectively movable to vary the length of selected strings.

19. In a stringed musical instrument a plurality of strings, eight of said strings comprising an octave and said instrument having a plurality of octaves fret means determining one end of said strings and means determining the other end of said strings, said fret means being movable whereby to vary the length of the strings, pedal means for moving said frets a predetermined distance to sub the tones of said strings, said pedal means including eight pedals with each of said pedals being adapted to sub the tone of the same string in each octave.

JAMES E. BRADLEY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 467,539 Hnze Jan. 26, 1892 1,520,612 Saurez Dec. 23, 1924 1,680,582 Zidell Aug. 14, 1928 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 364,767 Germany Nov. 25, 1921 

